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Donation | Collection Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

photography Rob Versluys

Maria van Elk
Too much pressure, 1980
Lithograph, edition 5
Dimensions: 360 x 180 cm (per sheet 60 x 60 cm)
Collection Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Looking back
Rento Brattinga, lithographer Amsterdam, remembers:

“Maria had a great idea. She wanted to make a circular drawing on a litho stone, then break the stone into
pieces and then print it.
She could not yet know that the subject of a broken stone is a tricky subject for a lithographer.
As great as her idea was, I was not so enthusiastic about its realization.
A different angle may open up if the artist is willing to discuss the concept.
Fortunately, Maria and I have no problem bouncing ideas back and forth.
This gave rise to the idea of drawing a circle on the stone and printing it on wrinkled paper.
A broken circle can be recognized during wrinkling.
Too Much Pressure (1980) is an apt title inspired by the groaning of the press.
This was the beginning of a productive collaboration that was accompanied by much mutual appreciation and
cautious friendship.
The unorthodox approach to printing paper that has been abused or not has also changed from a traditional
two-dimensional state, front and back of a sheet, to a three-dimensional one. The sheet gets a depth.
Gradually, a whole oeuvre of prints emerged, such as Binnenstebuiten gekeerde cirkel | Inside out reversed
circle (1980), Hele steen druk | Whole stone print (1980), Overduk | Overprint (1984), Kops en Langshout |
Cross-cut-wood and Length-cut-wood (1986).
It was a great pleasure to be at the press with Maria.
Of course I am asked as a printer; Rento, what do you think is the most beautiful print you have printed in
those 40 years?
I am careful with my answer. But I can confide that the works of Maria van Elk are among the favorites.”

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